


I Hope You're Happy

by solar02



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cheating, College Setting, F/F, Slow Burn, attack on titan - Freeform, historia and ymir haven't met yet, mikasa and annie post breakup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:41:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21930868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solar02/pseuds/solar02
Summary: It has been over three months since Annie and Mikasa broke up. The two slowly begin to accept their breakup and seek other people, but it appears fate has other plans.
Relationships: Annie Leonhart/Ymir, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart, Mikasa Ackerman/Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover
Comments: 37
Kudos: 158





	1. I have a new girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> So it's been forever since I’ve written anything AoT related but I recently caught up on the manga and…. Wow. Seeing that Annie is finally out of her crystal made me motivated to write again because honestly, I love Mikannie lol.  
> Anyways hope you enjoy the first chapter of this series I’ve decided to start! 
> 
> See you soon 
> 
> ~ Solar02

_ Mikasa has created a chat room  _

_ Mikasa added Annie Leonhart _

Mikasa: ….. Hello?

_ Annie has joined chat room  _

Annie: good god what do you want

Mikasa: Hello

Annie: What. 

Mikasa: Please don’t be like this 

Annie: Like what

Mikasa: defensive. Argumentative.

Annie: I’m not

Mikasa: My point exactly 

Annie: …. So what is it then? I remember specifically asking you to not talk or text me ever again

Mikasa: Yes I know that 

Annie: Great. Good bye 

Mikasa: Annie wait! Please I need to talk to you

Annie: 

Mikasa: Look I don’t want to be doing this either but after the breakup we never had….closure

Annie: I’m fine with that 

Mikasa: I’m not!

Annie:

Mikasa: I’m trying to break the ice here. We’ve been apart for long enough

Annie: Well don’t bother

Mikasa: I know you’re angry at me but please will you just

Annie: No

Mikasa: Listen to me? I’m going out on a limb here and making the first move

Annie: Well don’t it’s hardly necessary 

Mikasa: I have a new girlfriend!

Annie: ….. What? 

Mikasa: You heard me. I’ve got a new girlfriend. 

Annie: Ok good for you congratulations what do you want me to say 

Mikasa: What I’m trying to say is that I’ve moved on. I think you should too

Annie: So like… do I know her?

Mikasa: Um

Probably 

Her name is Historia Reiss 

Annie: Ok good fucking bye

Mikasa: Wait what- what on earth is your problem?!

Annie: Of all the girls at Rose University…. You go for the history major? 

Wait of course. Never mind, I should’ve seen it coming. You never even bothered to try to understand computer science, just completely ignored my interests like you do with literally everything. Of course you’d choose her. Something that doesn’t require you to do anything at all

Mikasa: What do you mean I never….Annie that’s not fair of you to say and you know it I never once ignored your interests and for your information the only reason I got to know Historia is because she’s in the same study group I’m in! Which you wouldn’t know about because you’re always in your dorm...doing god knows what 

Annie: This is why you shouldn’t have made this stupid chat room Mikasa 

Mikasa: I was trying to settle things between us once in for all so you don’t have to avoid me 

Annie: I’m not avoiding you!

Mikasa: Where have you been the past couple of friday nights then? When I asked Reiner where you were he said you were sleeping

Yeah right

You don’t sleep until 4 AM 

Annie: Dammit Mikasa are you stalking me? What the fuck get off me! 

Mikasa: No I’m

Annie:

Mikasa: I miss you

Annie:

That’s too bad

Mikasa: Well, for the first time in three months I agree with you 

This conversation was absolutely pointless

Annie: Yup

Mikasa: You’re insufferable. I hope you feel good about yourself knowing you’re the one with the bad blood between us

Annie: Never felt better

Mikasa: !!!!!YOU!!!!JUST!!!!UGH

Annie: Careful or you’ll break the keyboard 

_ Mikasa has left the chatroom _


	2. Strange Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie wakes up from a nightmare and decides to play videogames instead of sleeping. While doing this she has an unexpected encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> This chapter is written in Annie's POV and slightly foreshadows what is to come!  
> Hope you enjoy and as always, see you at the end!
> 
> Happy reading :)
> 
> \- Solar02

Annie awoke with a start nearly hitting her arm on the side of her bed. She pushed her blonde hair from her eyes and struggled to re catch her breath. She had a nightmare. 

She quietly pushed her covers aside and tiptoed past her roommate, Sasha, who was still sound asleep. The brunette had a goofy grin on her face and was happily muttering to herself in her sleep. The blonde girl scowled at how carefree her roommate was. Up until the middle of first semester Annie didn’t have a roommate because not many other female students were interested in studying STEM related majors. The liberal arts dorms were a different story though. There were two; the Trost and Sheena dorms which were both overflowing with residents. Moreover, Sasha had been displaced from either one of those dorms and was forced to join the Maria Dorms which housed mainly STEM majors. When she first moved in Annie remembered feeling pissed because that meant she and Mikasa would have to find another way to see each other in private. Of course though, none of that mattered anyways. Mikasa was long gone and Annie no longer had the need for a spare bed. She stared over her shoulder at her sleeping roommate and sighed. Sasha’s side of the dorm room was completely a mess with colorful notes and pens scattered across her desk as opposed to the two computers that sat on Annie’s. Sasha was a secondary education major with a minor in biochemistry which meant she had to take a lot of notes. Sometimes Annie pitied the amount of work she had to put in but nonetheless Sasha always seemed to have a smile plastered on her face. 

It made her sick.

She carefully opened the dorm door and slipped out into the hallway, flinching at the sudden bright lights that reached her eyes. Annie pulled out her phone and did a double take at the time. 5:00 A.M. 

_ Damn  _ she thought.  _ No wonder no one’s up.  _

After a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up Annie decided that the best way to wake up was to indulge in some early morning gaming. Contrary to Mikasa’s words she actually  _ did  _ have a semi-normal routine. Well, for her anyways. A typical day consisted of waking up at 10 in the morning to head to her morning lecture followed by a quick snack and another class. She spent the time in between her last class of the day and dinner working on school related work and spent the rest of the night gaming until morning. She supposed that in comparison to Mikasa’s stiff and regiment schedule it seemed rather laid back. But at the same time it worked for her. Annie was never one to put grades or college for that matter in front of her own personal desires. She had never really been interested in school to begin with and always was caught up in other interests like practicing Muay Thai or playing video games. Countless times she found herself putting aside other things in order to focus on herself and her needs instead of those around her. She supposed that, to a certain extent, that made her selfish. 

She reached for her desktop’s monitor and turned it on praying that Sasha would remain asleep. Annie turned around to find Sasha’s back now facing the wall away from her and smiled in satisfaction. As she waited for her computer to warm up her mind drifted back to the nightmare she’d had. After a few brief moments of racking her brain she realized she’d forgotten completely what it was that woke her up. Her mind was blank. She sighed as she logged onto her favorite server. Just recently she discovered a crazy new MOBA game called Attack on Titan and had become ‘addicted’ ever since. As she logged on and put on her headphones she felt herself drift back the strange conversation she and Mikasa had last night. Annie thought back to what her ex had said.   
“Closure, huh?” Annie mumbled. She scrolled through the list of characters before selecting her favorite; the female titan. The people she normally played with; Reiner and Bertholdt mostly, were not on of course. She sighed and clicked on the ‘random players’ button and waited for her team to form. “Yeah whatever. I don’t give a flying fuck who she dates or what she does.” 

Her mouse clicked impatiently as she waited for others to join. It felt like a lifetime for the rest of the team to fill up but at last they were in. The game was simple; there were two teams - Titans and Humans. The goal was to kill as many of the opposing team as humanly possible. Rage was the key and at that moment, Annie was most certainly filled with it after thinking about Mikasa. 

A sudden chat bubble popped up on her screen and of course, typical gamers related chatter soon followed. Perhaps it was the morning that made the blonde extra irritable that day but she couldn’t stand the annoying notifications that kept popping up in her periphery. After a few final kills her mouse darted towards shutting off the chat room altogether when she noticed a separate person had opened a private conversation with her. 

_ Curious. _

She quickly opened the chat and glanced at the unfamiliar username.  _ Fritzglitz69….?  _ She almost snorted at the username. 

Fritzglitz69: Hey

Leonhart: Hey 

Fritzglitz69: What r u doing up so early 

Leonhart: What

Fritzglitz69: Uh

It’s like 5 AM dude

A chill ran down Annie’s spine. How did this stranger know what time it was in her area?

Leonhart: Sorry but ur creepy asf bye

Fritzglitz69: you do realize that ur playing local ppl right? But go off i guess

Confused Annie paused the game and saw that in fact the person was right. Her thoughts about MIkasa had clouded her judgement and made her accidentally press random LOCAL players instead of just random. Shit. 

Leonhart: oh uh oops didn’t realize lmao

Couldn’t sleep 

Fritzglitz69: oof me too this is the last thing i should be doing rn 

Leonhart: same

Fritzglitz69: so why are you up so early

Leonhart: couldn’t sleep

Got a lot of shit going on lately

Fritzglitz69: sorry to hear that man :( i feel u tho 

at least this helps to ease it all

Leonhart: just barely 

Annie paused as an alert flashed on the upper right hand of her screen. There were just two more humans to kill.

Leonhart: but ur right i guess 

at least now i don’t have to think about everything

Fritzglitz69: i feel ya 

just a sec imma take this one out

A second alert flashed on the screen. One more human to go. Annie quickly maneuvered her avatar so that she had the upper hand. Her pent up anger seemed to reach its peak as she realized her opponent looked similar to someone she knew very well. Mikasa. With a swift movement she darted past the other player and used her avatar to completely wipe them out. Satisfied as the “you’ve won” banner filled her screen she returned to her series of messages. 

Leonhart: gg

Fritzglitz69: mm u too 

U gonna be on ltr?

Annie stopped and paused. Her reflex response was to say ‘no sorry I’m busy’ but now that Mikasa wasn’t there to monitor her she simply responded yes. 

Fritzglitz69: sweet 

The stranger exited the chat room and Annie did the same. 

_ That was odd  _ she thought. Her instincts told her to be weary of strangers on the internet but for some reason talking with a stranger had been the most comforting thing since the breakup. Maybe the fact that she didn’t really know this person was what made it so easy to open up to someone again. As she exited the game and returned to the homepage she noticed a new friend request had popped up on her screen. Her fingers hovered over the accept button before she quickly decided to check out the player’s profile. 

_ Ymir Fritz  _ she thought.  _ Interesting.  _

With that, she clicked accept. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again 
> 
> So this chapter is sort of going to be a stepping stone for the future ones to come! I'm actually pretty excited to see where this goes and what will happen when Annie realizes who this 'stranger' is :0
> 
> Anyways thanks so much for reading please leave any suggestions/feedback because it really helps with the writing process!
> 
> Until next time :)
> 
> \- Solar02


	3. What am I doing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa begins to feel lonely and decides to invite someone unexpected over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> This chapter is coming from Mikasa's P.O.V (for reference)!   
>  I hope you enjoy reading and as always, see you at the end :)
> 
> \- Solar02

  
  


Mikasa lay there in Historia’s bed with her girlfriend’s sheets wrapped tightly around her body. Historia was in the bathroom washing up after their passionate endeavors which had ended much faster than the brunette would have wanted. Mikasa loved Historia and their time together but was also getting a little tired of their ‘routine’. Whenever they had sex it was always the same; they’d make out for a bit and then Mikasa would get Historia off and that was… it. Mikasa didn’t mind of course. She loved Historia. But she feared this pattern would only continue as their relationship lasted. The first time they did it Historia explained that Mikasa was the first woman that she had ever been with and therefore was not sure how to reciprocate properly. She had been understanding at first and reassured her that she did not mind if the first couple of tries were bumpy but it had been almost four months now and nothing had changed. 

Mikasa heard the water from the other room stop and looked up hopefully. While her body longed for so much more the least she could hope for was for Historia to crawl back into bed with her. The brunette glanced at the clock which read 8:00 PM. It was perfect. The door suddenly opened and out appeared Historia with a towel covering her body and her hair in a bun. 

“Hey,” she smiled. “Can I just say...thanks for that. That was amazing.” 

“Of course love” Mikasa watched as Historia made her way to her closet and disappeared for a brief moment only to reemerge in an oversized sweater and plaid skirt. She felt a frown begin to form on her face. “Off to somewhere?”

“Oh yeah,” Historia said as she rummaged through her underwear drawer. “I forgot to tell you I have this thing tonight with some of the girls from my book club. We should be back by around midnight.”

Mikasa’s frown only deepened. “Are you guys really going to be talking about books until morning?”

“Oh love,” Historia set down the necklace she had in her hand and planted a light kiss on Mikasa’s cheek. “Don’t be jealous.”

“I’m not.”

Historia smirked. “Well for your information it’s a mixer that me and some of the other members decided to hold in order for the new members to get to know each other.” 

Mikasa’s eyes widened. “Mixer?”

“Oh my god not  _ that  _ kind of mixer! It’s literally going to be all of the book members crowded around Zoe’s fireplace in her apartment nerding out! You have no reason to worry, love. And besides,” Historia kissed her again this time lasting longer and intertwining her hand with Mikasa’s. “You’re the only one in my heart.” 

Mikasa watched as her girlfriend flounced over to her vanity and began applying all sorts of makeup and powders over her face. Soon the bedroom filled with a sickly sweet scent of fake peaches and berries as Historia repeatedly sprayed her body with different types of mists. All the while Mikasa continued to lay in Historia’s bed alone. She sighed, loud enough for Historia to hear. 

“Are you ok love?”

“Y-yeah,” Mikasa muttered. She swung her legs out from under the bedsheets and walked towards her heap of clothes. 

“You seem off,” Historia said coming and giving the brunette a back hug. “You can tell me.”

Mikasa thought about finally expressing how she felt. About how she was tired about not being satisfied, about how much she missed after sex cuddles. But instead she pressed her mouth in a firm line and replied, “It’s nothing. I’m sorry for being so grumpy.” She kissed Historia on the forehead. “I guess I’m just used to An- I mean my ex - being clingy and what not after sex.” Mikasa felt a smile tug on the corner of her lips as she thought about her time with Annie. Annie always acted like a stone cold and tough person around everyone else but became surprisingly loving around the right people.  _ Shit.  _ Mikasa quickly shut that thought down. She was with Historia now.

“Hey,” her girlfriend said quietly. “I know that you two still have a lot of feelings. And it’s ok, I’m not going anywhere nor do I blame you two. You guys have a lot of history.” 

“I know. Thank you for saying that,” Mikasa gave her a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too. And by the way next time I promise I’ll be able to stay longer,” Historia added with a final kiss. “I’ve got to go now, text me?”

“Of course.”

With that Historia was gone leaving Mikasa alone in her dorm. Historia shared a dorm with Petra who was almost never home and out partying which was why it became the perfect place to crash. She contemplated staying and waiting for her girlfriend to return but ultimately decided it would be best to return to her own dorm. When Mikasa got back she immediately collapsed on her bed and let out a big sigh. Her roommate Nanaba was gone for the semester, studying abroad in South Korea, leaving Mikasa with an empty dorm. She shivered and crawled under the covers not bothering to shower. She closed her eyes. It would be a lie if she said she was not lonely. A small voice in her brain began to chant the one person she did not want to think about ever again.  _ Annie.  _

Memories of how they used to curl up inside her bed and watch Netflix for hours filled her head. Mikasa tried to shut out the lost feeling of her ex’s body next to hers and rubbed her hands on her shoulders. As much as she hated to admit it, she did miss her. Annie could be rather annoying and stubborn at times but she had also been a strong support for Mikasa. Whenever she felt down Annie had always been the first person she’d call. But now, she supposed, it was too late. 

Mikasa picked up her phone and realized she forgot to text Historia. She opened her chat to see her girlfriend had texted a simple, “love you” with a smiley emoji. Mikasa quickly responded and shut her phone, exasperated. That was so not what she needed. After a few moments of sitting in her bed she picked up her phone for the second time, letting her hand hover over Annie’s name. 

_ What am I doing? _

Mikasa pressed down and immediately regretted it. She was over Annie. So why on earth did she feel the need to call her?

_ She won’t answer anyways. Probably still playing that stupid DOTA game or Attack on Titan or something like that.  _

Mikasa waited and waited. Nothing. Finally a long beep echoed throughout the dorm before informing her that the number was no longer active.

_ Oh screw you Annie. _

Mikasa ditched calling her and instead opened instagram. 

Mikasa: Hey 

She waited for what felt like an eternity. Of course her ex wouldn’t answer her. Their last text ended so poorly so understandably Annie wouldn’t respond kindly to this one. Or respond at all. Just as Mikasa was about to shut off her phone for good the word ‘seen’ appeared at the bottom of her screen. The brunette’s heart quickened. 

Annie: Yes?

Mikasa: You got a new phone

Annie: Mhm

Mikasa: Why? So you could avoid me some more?

Annie: Don’t flatter yourself 

For your information I changed carriers

Mikasa 

Annie: Ok well good bye

Mikasa: Wait

Uh I was wondering

Do you wanna come over tonight?

Annie: As in right now?

Mikasa: Yea

Annie: ….. Why 

Mikasa: I don’t know

Historia’s out at some book club party and Nanaba is in South Korea

Annie: Oohhh right that explains why I haven’t seen her in gamers against humanity 

Mikasa: Wait she’s a gamer

Annie: yup 

Ofc you’d never know that because you don’t notice anything outside of your own knowledge

_ Ouch. _

Mikasa: ok look if you aren’t free that’s fine

Annie: …. I didn’t say I wasn’t 

Just…. Nothing else ok 

Mikasa almost snorted. 

Mikasa: I’m in love with Historia 

Annie: just being safe

I’ll be over in a few 

Mikasa: KK

Annie: K

Mikasa shut off her phone and laid back in her bed. 

_ What on earth am I doing?  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again thank you for reading up until now!
> 
> I'm still deciding on which P.O.V the next chapter will be in (either Annie's or Historia's) so that will be interesting.   
> The story is starting to pick up now and I'm currently working on weaving in the details of Mikasa and Annie's breakup in the upcoming chapters!
> 
> As always please leave comments/suggestions as it helps with the writing process. 
> 
> With that, 
> 
> See you soon :)
> 
> \- Solar02


	4. Miss You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa requests that Annie stay over and watch a movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, 
> 
> Two chapters in one day! Yay :)  
> Pretty excited with this one as the story is beginning to unfold. As always happy reading and see you at the end!
> 
> \- Solar02

Annie stared at her phone for a good five minutes before finally willing her body to move from her seat. Mikasa had just texted her asking for her to come over. The gesture felt so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. Ever since they had broken up Mikasa had ended their weekly movie nights all together. The fact that three months had passed and they just finally started talking explained it all. Annie had been certain that they would never do anything like this ever again. Yet here she was on her way to her ex’s house in response to a weirdly timed invitation. 

When Mikasa asked if she was free Annie had considered lying, saying she was busy with school work or studying or literally any believable excuse to get out of having to see her again. But at the same time, Mikasa would be able to see through any of her excuses anyways. She knew her far too well.

Annie reached for her computer monitor to turn it off when she noticed a small chat bubble had appeared from Fritzglitz69. Ever since their first encounter Annie had found herself spending more and more time chatting with them. For one, they shared the same interests. For the first time Annie had someone that really _got_ her. Well, a part of her anyways. She was too smart to reveal any real information about herself to some stranger, of course. Even though she knew the person behind Fritzglitz69 was definitely in the area. Secretly Annie wished she could meet them in person. See what they were like. Heck, maybe even hook up or date them. For the first time Annie finally felt like she was able to speak freely about herself and her life and her interests. This feeling was so freeing, and she did not want to let it go. 

She looked at the time. It was almost 9 PM.

_Shit. I’ll have to check it later._

Annie grabbed her coat and threw it over her shoulders as she walked briskly across campus to the Trost dormitories ignoring the cold that nipped at her face. As she was about to enter the building her body collided with someone walking out of it. 

“Watch where you’re going,” she turned and glared at the perpetrator to see a young woman with short hair and freckles glaring right back. Annie waited for a reply but instead the girl simply brushed past her without a second word. She decided to let it go and turned back to the dorms when she realized she was missing something.

“Crap my phone!” Just as she was about to turn back and retrace her steps the same woman who had bumped into her was blocking her way with something in her hand. 

“Missing this?”

“Oh,” Annie was dumbfounded. “Uh yeah. Thanks.” She reached out and grabbed her phone when she realized who this person was. Now that they were in the light she recognized her from somewhere but she could not put her finger on it. “Wait I know you,” she said slowly. “You’re that girl from my intro to creative writing class freshman year.”

The tall girl chuckled. “You mean the one we both dropped after like, a week?”

Now it was her turn to laugh. It was true, that class was awful. The only reason why she had signed up for it in the first place was because Mikasa had insisted it was worth her time. 

“Yeah that’s me,” she rolled her eyes. “My name’s Annie Leonhart.”

The girl raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Huh Leonhart is an unusual name that’s all. My name’s Ymir Fritz but just call me Ymir.” The taller girl extended her hand. “See you around Leonhart.”

Annie left feeling shaken up and intrigued. As she walked up the stairs to Mikasa’s dorm she made a mental note to do some digging around about a Ymir Fritz on the campus. It was really the name she was more intrigued with. There was only one other person she’d heard of with that name.

_Was that…. Fritzglitz69?_

The idea seemed crazy at first but the way Ymir had also had a surprised look on her face when Annie mentioned her last name was another reason why she considered it a possibility. After all, the only people Annie was playing with were strangers from ‘around the area’. Whatever that meant. Soon all of her thoughts were replaced by sheer dread as she approached Mikasa’s dorm. Room number 665 on the 6th floor. 

She stood outside of the door for what felt like an eternity unable to move herself to knock on the door. 

_This is a bad idea_ she thought. _Go and turn around before it’s too late._

Annie willed her head to shut up and slowly touched her hand to the door so lightly she was sure Mikasa wouldn’t even hear it. Much to the contrary it opened as soon as her hand left the door. 

“Hi,” Mikasa said quickly. 

_What, was she waiting by the door for me to arrive?_

“Uh, come in.” 

“Thanks.”

Annie shrugged out of her coat and looked around the room. Nanaba’s half looked the same, with psychology books scattered around her desk. Mikasa’s half on the other hand looked very different. Last time Annie had been to their dorm Mikasa’s half had been quite sparse, spare of her laptop and a couple of textbooks. Now it was decorated with pink candles, a vase full of pink flowers, and a pink mirror hanging above the desk. It reeked of Historia. Annie tried not to gag. As she plopped down on Mikasa’s bed she happened to notice the bedside table with a new photo enclosed within a pastel pink frame. It was of Mikasa and Historia of course, sitting across from one another at Cafe Rose. As much as Annie hated to admit it, she looked good. _They_ looked good. 

In the photo both of them had wide smiles plastered on their faces, sipping completely different drinks. Historia’s looked like a milkshake cross between unicorn vomit and candy land while Mikasa simply had a small mug in front of her. Of course Annie knew what was in that cup. A double black espresso with no cream or sugar. 

“I see you’ve noticed the changes,” Mikasa said finally breaking the silence between them. 

Annie bit her lip to prevent herself from giving a sarcastic retort. She hated the place now, it didn’t feel like Mikasa at but rather, a recreation of Historia’s bubbly and sickly sweet personality. 

“Yeah,” she willed herself to reply. “Looks like a lot of remodeling went on here.”

Mikasa chuckled and sat down next to her. “Yeah, well you know Historia.”

_No don’t. Nor do I want to._

“So why’d you want me to come over?” 

“I guess I was just… lonely.” 

Annie frowned. “Uh, it’s like 9:10 PM on a Friday night Mikasa. Shouldn’t you be out and screwing Historia instead of hanging out with your ex?” The blonde girl immediately regretted her harsh words. “I-I mean-”

“It’s fine,” Mikasa sighed. She pulled her legs up to her chest. “Historia is out at some ‘mixer’ tonight.”

“Really? A mixer?”

“That’s what I said.”

“And she didn’t invite you?”

“She said it was with her book club members but… I dunno Ann’ it does feel kind of suspicious you know?” 

Annie stared down at her socks. “Yeah. That sucks.”

Mikasa shook her head. “And for your information…. I’m not screwing Historia.”

Annie’s jaw dropped. “Wait no way. You’re telling me Mikasa Ackerman, who has the sex drive of an army, is fine with a completely platonic relationship? Consider me shocked!”

The brunette rolled her eyes. “Consider you annoying,” she gently shoved Annie who almost fell backward at the unexpected touch. Mikasa must have realized how she came off as she quickly dropped gaze just as quickly as she did her hands. “It’s not completely platonic, it's just… complicated. She doesn’t reciprocate like, at all.” 

_Oh shit._

Annie didn’t know how to respond. She played with the strings on her hoodie uncomfortably. “I, uh,” her voice faltered. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Mikasa paused and didn’t say anything for a while. Annie could practically see the gears in her ex’s head turning. She knew that Mikasa was more careful and secretive than anyone she had ever known before. The fact that she was telling her all of this made it feel as if nothing had ever happened before. As if they were friends again. Mikasa sighed. “I think it’s because I’m her first woman, you know? Like, she’s afraid to mess up or something.”

“ I mean, can you blame her? You’re her first and uh,” Annie pointed at her face. “You’re kind of intimidating.”

Mikasa’s eyes narrowed. “What do you-”

“That. Exactly that. Look just give her some time ok? She’ll come around.”

The brunette shrugged before laying down with her arm over her eyes. “I remember when I took your first time. It was like your sexual awakening or something because after that you-”

“S-shut up!” Annie flung a pillow on her friend’s face. And then another. And another, until Mikasa put her hand up and doubled over in laughter. “Good god fuck you Ackerman.”

Despite her petty insults Mikasa did not stop laughing and soon Annie felt her hard shell fall. All of this time she had been worried about having her ex over. Things had ended so badly between them that Annie had feared they would never get over their difficulties. If only she could tell Mikasa what really happened that night. If only she hadn’t made that promise to Reiner…

“So are we gonna watch something or what? It’s getting late and I hate getting less than 8 hours of sleep.”

“Oh that’s right,” Annie rolled her eyes. “Sleeping beauty here - sorry, forgot.” Now it was this time a pillow hit her in the face. She stood up and grabbed the pillow. “You win. I’ll go grab some snacks from my room and be right back.”

“I have snacks too!” Mikasa protested but Annie held up her hand. The brunette’s idea of snacks were organic rolled oats and dried prunes. In other words, NOT food. 

“Just stay here and find something to watch. Preferably something not PG.”

“Oh I see how it is.” Mikasa raised an eyebrow and Annie felt her face warm.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I want something that is interesting ok? And for the love of god nothing Disney-”

“Ok ok you’re input has been noted. Now hurry up so we can start already!”

Annie found herself running across the sidewalk to her own dorm scouring her stash for anything they might like. 

_Ok chocolate covered raisins for Mikasa for sure….I’ll grab some chips for myself and… popcorn for good measure._

Annie grabbed two bottles of mineral water and headed back out into the night. As she walked back with her arms full her thoughts began to drift back to the stranger she had run into before. 

_Fritz…._

“I’m back!” Annie announced setting down her goods. Mikasa had taken the liberty to grab a fourth pillow from Nanaba’s bed as well as an extra pink blanket. In the short time she had angled her desk so that her TV was in clear view of the bed. It felt so familiar and Annie realized how much she missed this. “Here. Got you some chocolate covered raisins.” 

Mikasa poked at the package and immediately looked at the label.

“It’s dark chocolate,” Annie confirmed. “Wouldn’t want to mess up your strict bodybuilder diet or whatever.”

Mikasa just rolled her eyes as she held up the potato chips. “Annie,” she said in an overly motherly tone. “How many times have I told you these chips are absolutely awful for you! Look at all of that saturated fat-”

“Lalalalala don’t wanna hear it mom,” Annie snatched the bag of chips and popped on in her mouth. “Besides. Consider this a special occasion.”

“I’d hardly consider watching a movie with your ex lover as a special occasion,” the brunette chuckled. Mikasa quickly stood up from her spot and readjusted herself so that there was enough room for Annie to slide in. She patted the empty space next to her. “C’mere you.”

Annie happily obliged. She only half listened to Mikasa telling her their options before randomly agreeing to watch some movie that her ex insisted was amazing. As the movie began Annie found herself paying less attention to the script and more to trying to wrap her head around exactly what was happening. For one they were in Mikasa’s bed, a place that Annie never imagined ever visiting again. She was grateful for the fact that they were talking again, but how everything went down felt odd to her. Mikasa was not one who let emotions override her decisions easily which was why it was so hard for Annie to understand what had made her change her tune so quickly. She loved Historia and had made that very clear since the day they met. Which was fine of course. Everyone had the right to move on. And, to a certain extent, Annie knew she had been the heart of their relationship downfall. 

At the beginning of the year her childhood friend Reiner Braun had come out to her. He was no ordinary guy; he was _the_ guy, the kind of person who was popular all throughout grade school. Coming in at around six feet with ocean blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, Reiner had always been a hotshot, especially for the ladies. So when he told Annie that he was gay, she couldn’t believe her ears. She had no problem with that as she was lesbian herself but to hear the person she thought to be the straightest man on earth suddenly come out was earth shaking. 

To say that Reiner was one hundred percent sure on his sexuality however, was an understatement. After he had come out to Annie he had two simple requests: one: that Annie not tell a soul about him being into other men, and two: that she would kiss him, so that he could prove once and for all he was not interested in women anymore. Annie thought back to that and what he had said to her. He said that, out of all of the girls he dated, she was always the one he felt he could find himself loving one day. Moreover, if he did not feel anything kissing her he would not feel anything kissing any woman. 

Annie had to agree. He was her best friend of course and she would do anything to make him happy. So they shared a kiss. At the time she thought that she had been alone when they did it. Reiner had insisted they go into the back of the library when he told her, and promised that no one would ever find them. But leave it to Mikasa to be the one person on the entire campus to just happen to walk by the 1800s history books that day. That was the beginning of the end. After that day nothing was ever the same between them no matter how hard Annie tried. When they had been caught Reiner quickly made a dash for it out of fear of being discovered, but Annie knew that Mikasa wouldn’t have given a shit about him. When it happened Annie had wanted nothing more than to tell Mikasa the truth. That Reiner was gay, and that they had only shared a kiss to try and explore his feelings not hers. But the promise. That stupid promise. 

Annie bit her lip. More than three months had passed. Mikasa was with a new girl. Reiner had gone AWOL from her texts. So what was the point of breaking out the big secret now anyways? 

“Aww falling asleep already?” 

Annie blinked before she realized where she was. She had been so caught up reminiscing about the past that she had not paid attention to the movie one bit and realized her head now rested on Mikasa’s shoulder. 

“I’m up,” she mumbled straightening her back. In all honesty, she had no clue what was going on in the movie anymore. And she didn’t care. All that mattered was that they were finally talking. The rest of the movie finished very uneventfully in her opinion. The main character got the girl and they all danced off into the sunset. Definitely not her type of movie. When it ended Annie stood up and yawned. It was midnight. 

“Alright well, guess I’d better be going back.” She stood up and began moving Mikasa’s desk back up against the wall. After everything was tidied up and pink again, Annie began reaching for her coat and door when she remembered. “Hey do you by any chance know of a Ymir Fritz?”

Mikasa had a sleepy look on her face and yawned. “Ymir? Oh yeah, I’ve heard of her. She’s in Historia’s book club.” 

_Books?_ Annie thought. Maybe this wasn’t the same Fritzglitz69 that she was thinking of. 

“Why do you ask?”

“No reason really. I mean, I started talking with this person online who has a similar name and, you know, Fritz isn’t exactly a basic one.” Even in the dim lighting of the hallway could not hide the intense look on Mikasa’s face. 

“You’re talking to someone online?” she asked. Annie felt her hands begin to get clammy at the tone of Mikasa’s voice. It could have been just her imagination but she swore jealousy dripped from those words. “That isn’t safe you know. It could be anyone...some creepy old man pretending to be our age.”

“For the love of god Mikasa, I’m a computer programmer. I _know_ about sketchy internet people and trust me- this isn’t one of them.” Annie thought about telling her the part that this person happened to be within close proximity to where she was and stopped herself. Mikasa would flip out. “Anyways call me crazy but I thought that maybe that Fritz girl could be the person I’ve been talking with.”

“Well I don’t know anything about her,” Mikasa shrugged. “Other than what Historia tells me. From what I hear she sounds like an asshole.”

_Ah yes, that sounds more like it._

“Huh,” Annie said. “Well please let me know if you get any more details on her.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She pulled out her phone and presented it to Annie. “Put in your number. Since you got a ‘new one.’” 

“I’m telling the truth,” she protested but nonetheless typed in her name. “There.”

“Wait it’s not quite done.” Without warning Mikasa turned her phone up and with a bright flash took an extremely unflattering picture of the blonde. “There we go. Perfect. I’m gonna name you… pink princess. Since I know how you love my new color scheme.”

With one last glance at her ex, Annie flipped Mikasa off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again
> 
> Thanks for reading all the way down I hope you're enjoying the story. I decided to explain the reason for the breakup a little earlier than initially planned but since the next chapters are going to be in Ymir/Historia's POV I thought this was absolutely necessary. Poor Annie :( 
> 
> Anyways I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Please feel free to leave comments/feedback as it helps the writing process :) 
> 
> See you soon, 
> 
> \- Solar02


	5. The Book Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia goes to her book club and has an unexpected encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> So this chapter is in Historia's P.O.V :)
> 
> Enjoy reading and see you at the end!
> 
> \- Solar02

Historia sat with her hands neatly folded in her lap as the rest of the book club members sat around the common room outside of Zoe’s dorm. It was her second year being involved with the club and she was now vice president. The little ‘mixer’ she and Zoe had planned was about to begin with a handful of familiar and unfamiliar faces trickling in. She reached down for her phone and checked it one last time to see a message from Mikasa appear on her screen. 

_ Love you Historia. _

She felt her eyes skim over the word  _ Historia.  _ Sometimes when she looked at it hard enough she realized how strange it felt on her tongue. In the past Historia had always answered to a different name, Krista Lenz. Due to some unhappy family issues, Historia had experienced a rather rough childhood and decided to remain under the name Krista for the majority of her upbringing. That way she could hide under the guise of Krista and reject the name given to her at birth, the one that reminded her so much of her horrid past. This all changed of course, when she met Mikasa. Mikasa had been the only person that Historia ever felt truly loved her. She was everything she wasn’t. Strong, brave, fearless. The old Historia would have never dreamed to do some of the things Mikasa encouraged her to. That was why Historia decided to restore her honor and push aside her negative feelings towards her name. She was Historia Reiss, daughter of Rod Reiss and heir to the Reiss Holdings and Co. She would no longer let the name Krista Lenz live. 

Or so she thought. 

As the last few members trickled in Zoe had everyone introduce themselves, their name, and their favorite book. When it was Historia’s turn the name “Krista Lens” managed to escape from her mouth and she instantly regretted it. As soon as everyone finished introducing themselves she sheepishly walked up to Zoe and tugged at her arm. 

“I messed up,” she confessed to Zoe, who gave her a sympathetic smile. 

“Yeah… sorry Kri- I mean Historia.” The president sighed. “Change is hard sometimes. Especially when you’re not used to something new.”

Historia felt her face fall. 

“But hey- I’ll do my best. Are you going to tell the other girls?”

Historia opened her mouth to respond when the door to the common room opened. I walked a tall, confident looking person with broad shoulders and dark hair. Zoe stopped talking immediately.

“Is this where the uh…. Book club is?” the stranger asked. One of the members quickly jumped up and pointed to where they were standing. 

“Yeah, you’re in the right place. These are the two presidents Zoe Hange and Krista Lens.”

“Nice to meet you,” Zoe said extending her hand to which the person shook heartily. Historia found herself at a loss for words before she felt her friend’s elbow jab into her arm.

“Hi!” She said in a high pitched voice. She grabbed the other person’s hands tightly in hers. 

The girl laughed, a deep unusual sound. It was beautiful. “The name’s Ymir Fritz. It’s so nice to meet you Krista.” 

Historia swallowed as she caught a glimpse of the girl’s face. She had deep, dark eyes that reminded her so much of Mikasa. Ymir’s hair was a dark shade of brown and tiny freckles adorned her face. When she finally turned around History felt a small shiver run down her spine. She had no idea someone could look so attractive and androgenous yet beautiful at the same time and it was giving her butterflies all of a sudden.

_ Get it together Historia! So she’s beautiful. So what?  _

“Hey.”

“Eep.” She turned around to see Ymir towering over her. “W-what is it?”

The taller girl let out a sound that was music to her ears. “Well this is a book club isn’t it? That’s why we’re here to… discuss books.”

Historia let out a sigh of relief. Of course. Books. She peered at the book in Ymir’s hand and her eyes grew wide. It was her favorite book of all time. “I can’t believe you read this,” she gasped and grabbed the title. She knew that author anywhere. “I thought I was the only one!”

“Well,” Ymir grinned. “You might just be surprised.”

“Oh my gosh we have so much to talk about,” she burst out, a sudden wave of joy and excitement hitting her. “I don’t think we’ll have enough time to cover all of it right now - we should meet when we don’t have class. Here-” she pulled out her phone. “Show me your schedule.”

“Ok slow down,” Ymir grinned before whipping out her phone. Historia’s eyes quickly darted around the colorful puzzle piece when she realized to her disappointment that they were never free at the same time. 

“Shoot,” she muttered as she held the two schedules next to one another. “We’ll have to meet at a different time.”

“I’m down,” the brunette said eagerly. “How about this Saturday at Cafe Rose?” 

“I’d love to!” Historia exclaimed. 

“Great! It’s a date.” Ymir slowly stood up and reached her hand out to help her up. “Here, let me give you my phone number.”

Historia still clutched the book in her arms without realizing it until Ymir asked, “Hey, do you wanna like to borrow the book until we meet on Saturday? You know, to freshen up your memory and what not.”

Historia’s eyes grew wide again and she quickly shook her head. “Oh no, it’s ok. It’s yours I’m sorry I don’t want to take your book-”

“Look. I’ll give it to you, will that make you feel better?” Ymir gave her a smile which made Historia’s heart begin to race. 

“Yeah,” was all she could muster. 

“Ok sounds good. I’ll look forward to our date.” 

“Wait where are you going? You cannot leave so soon you just got here!”  
Ymir turned around and shrugged. “Something tells me I think I found what I’ve come for. See you around Krista!”

Historia watched in awe as Ymir turned around and disappeared into the stairways. She willed for her heart to be still and for the red flush on her cheeks to fall but inside, she was beyond ecstatic. 

Finally another person besides Mikasa who she felt knew her. 

“Krista!” Zoe’s voice called from across the room. “C’mere we’re gonna start our discussion!”

“I’m coming,” Historia replied. She continued to hold onto Ymir’s book for the rest of the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> So as you can see Historia meets Ymir.... poor Ymir has no idea that she's taken already :(
> 
> Anyways thanks so much for reading, please leave any comments/feedback as it helps with the writing process!
> 
> See you soon, 
> 
> \- Solar02


	6. Sorry but she's taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ymir is ecstatic about her date with the cute book club president. Annie is not amused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, 
> 
> Today's chapter will be in Ymir's P.O.V!  
> This is where things start to get pretty complicated :')
> 
> See you soon,
> 
> \- Soloar02

It was 12:30 AM when Ymir finally got home exhausted and giddy. She had a  _ date  _ with the adorable vice president of the Rose University book club! She felt excited just thinking about it. Sure, she may or may not have some extra work to do until Saturday. Namely reading every single bit of sparknotes she could on the book that Krista loved so much. In all truth Ymir never read. Why read when you could play video games? But Krista’s friend, Sasha, had told her that there was only one way to get to her heart. Through books. So Ymir had done a bit of digging around and discovered that Krista had her own blog dedicated to discussing and reviewing her favorite reads of the year. And of course that was where she found the book Krista seemed to be so infatuated with. It was a long forbidden love story about two women who could never be together. One was a beast; the enemy and the other was a princess and somewhere along the way, the beast girl dies and the princess becomes a queen that is forced to marry someone she doesn’t love. It was a romantic tragedy if there ever was one. At least, that was Ymir’s understanding of the book. She had gotten all of this from a brief summary on Wikipedia ten minutes before she left for the book club. 

She sighed and sat down at her computer. If she wanted to impress Krista, she would need to do a LOT of reading on the book (without actually reading it, of course.) The book was so thick it was practically a dictionary. No one had time to read something like that!

Ymir turned on her laptop and waited for it to load. When it did, of course the Attack on Titan server popped up on her screen. So did a new message alert from the mysterious ‘Leonhart’. Ymir knew that this person was none other than Annie Leonhart, or, the girl she had bumped into on her way to the book club meeting. She hadn’t realized it until after the encounter but she was sure that her gaming buddy was Annie. 

“8 new messages,” Ymir groaned. She opened her chat and, not surprisingly, Annie had figured it out. 

Leonhart: hey this might sound weird but did you happen to bump into someone wearing a grey hoodie?

I think we go to the same college

Wait actually 

You’re Ymir Fritz right

Don’t wanna sound creepy but

It’s just a guess with the last name

You don’t have to say yes if you aren’t comfortable

Actually just ignore my other messages sry 

_ Oh man. What do I say to this? _

Fritzglitz69: yea u got me

Im Ymir which means u must be annie leonhart

I know i'm right

Almost immediately the typing bubble appeared at the bottom of the screen. 

Leonhart: oh sick

Wanna play a round of AoT?

Ymir hesitated. She knew she should be looking over Krista’s book but AoT was just too tempting. 

_ So much for trying to impress Krista. _

She quickly responded yes and then decided it would be nice to actually be able to talk to Annie instead of type. Ymir suggested doing a video chat instead to which Annie agreed. Ymir’s fingers quickly selected a character and pressed the start button on the match as well as the call. 

“Hey,” she said. No reply. “Annie?”

“Yeah I’m here. Sorry. Having some difficulty getting my mic setup it’s been a while.”

Ymir waited as she heard static noises for a while when finally Annie’s voice came into focus. “What’s up?”

In total they ended up playing three matches before deciding to call it quits. It was 3 in the morning and Ymir was beginning to get tired. It felt so weird finally being able to talk to Annie like this. She knew a lot about her of course, but back then when they were just chatting she had no idea that she would someday be able to put a name to a face and actually have a conversation with them in real life. They had spent a good chunk of time during their gaming sessions before and of course, got to know each other pretty well. So well in fact that Ymir felt as if she could tell Annie anything and not feel anxious or anything like that. Perhaps it was because she was used to talking to strangers and rationalizing that, well, she’d never know them in real life so if she spilled all of her guts? Zero repercussions. But she knew who Leonhart was now. They went to the same college. And yet something about Annie made Ymir feel comfortable and willing to trust her. 

“I think I’m gonna log off pretty soon,” Ymir said with a yawn. 

“Same,” Annie’s voice came from the other end. “Good game.”

“Mhm,” Ymir yawned again and rubbed her eyes. She was so tired and yet so awake at the same time. Perhaps she was worried about her date with Krista. Sure, she knew what she likes to read but other than that? Absolutely nothing. 

_ Maybe Annie knows her,  _ Ymir thought lazily closing her tabs. She thought about it for a second before deciding to ask, “Hey, do you know anything about Krista Lenz? She’s a student here at Rose University.” 

There was a pause on the other end. “Uh yeah. I think so anyways.”

Ymir’s ears perked up. “Really? Like what?”

“Take my word with a bit of salt. I think she’s in a book clubright?”

“Yeah, she is.”

Another pause. Ymir’s heart beat rapidly in her chest as she waited for Annie to respond. 

“Yeah, the book club, right,” Annie said thoughtfully. “I’m trying to think who’s in that club… there’s Zoe, Pieck, Hitch....” Ymir waited to hear Krista’s name as Annie went through the list of members but to her confusion it was not mentioned once. 

“You’re sure you’re not forgetting someone?” she asked. 

“Not that I know of. But like I said, take my word with a grain of salt.” Ymir felt her hopes drop.

“Thanks anyways,” she said halfheartedly. “I’ll just ask Zoe the next meeting it’s ok I really appreciate-”

“That’s it!” Annie exclaimed suddenly making Ymir jump. “How could I forget! She doesn’t go by Krista Lens anymore, her name is Historia Reiss.”

“Historia Reiss,” Ymir repeated in awe. Somehow she felt herself drawn to this one even more. It was beautiful. “Wait are you sure? How do you know all of this?”

“Thousand percent sure lmao that’s why I didn’t recognize when you said Krista Lens.” 

“But how do you know all of this?” Ymir prompted. The response Annie gave was the last thing she expected or hoped for. 

“Ooooooh. Sorry, she's taken."

Ymir felt her face fall. "What do you mean? By who?"

"Well she’s my ex’s current girlfriend.”

_ Ah shit.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading to the end!
> 
> So what do you think? Poor Ymir had no idea what was coming for her :(   
> The next few chapters will begin to explore the relationships between the characters more and I'm really excited to see what will happen between them ;)
> 
> Anyways thanks again for reading please leave any comments/suggestions/feedback!
> 
> See you soon, 
> 
> \- Solar02


	7. Valentine's Day Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls of Rose University decide to hold a Valentine's Day Party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> Just a note, this has literally nothing to do with the story and is instead something I thought would be fun to include :)  
> Anyways happy reading and see you soon!
> 
> \- Solar02

The Trost dormitory common area was decked out to the max. The normally plain common room had been turned into a Valentine’s Day suite overnight. Pink heart shaped balloons, placemats, napkins, and plates accompanied a table chocked full of sugary desserts and treats filled the room. The common area consisted of a small kitchen for baking as well as a flat screen T.V, two tables, and some couches. When Mikasa walked into the common area she had to take a minute to get used to the bright pink decorations that surrounded her. She checked her phone. It was 5:00 PM. 

“Hello?” a voice came from the kitchen. Mikasa walked past the couches to find an apron-adorned and flour covered Historia with a bewildered look on her face. “Mikasa!” she squeaked. “What are you doing here, the Valentine’s Day party isn’t supposed to start until 6:45!”

“I know,” Mikasa chuckled and set down her plate of sweets next to the already full treats table. “I just thought you might need some help…. But from the looks of it….”

“Oh. Yeah.” Historia let out a sheepish laugh. “I guess I got a little carried away with all of the… festivities.”

Mikasa raised her eyebrow. A little carried away was a severe understatement.

“I just can’t help it, you know?” Historia continued returning to her work which involved piping heart shaped sugar cookies. “It’s the first time in like forever for everyone to get together! And also…. My first valentine’s day with Ymir.”

A small smile fell upon Mikasa’s lips. “Yeah.” She walked into the kitchen and reached for an apron. “I suppose there are reasons for this to be the best valentine’s day yet.” 

The two began to frost the cookies together, making sure to pay very close attention to detail. By the time they were finished it was 6:10. 

“Whew!” Historia exclaimed as she set down the plate of cookies on the table. “That should be enough, right?”

“How many people are supposed to be coming again?”

“Well let’s see,” Historia pulled out her phone. “Assuming everyone is able to come… Petra, Zoe, Nanaba…..” she continued counting. “Reiner and Bertholdt.” 

Mikasa froze at Reiner’s name. Historia must have sensed her tension because she stopped mid sentence. 

“I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered. “I just went ahead and invited everyone I could think of I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine,” Mikasa said as calmly as possible. Reiner was the last person she wanted to see. “If he knows what’s good for him he’ll stay away.”

The two fell silent and Mikasa could practically see the gears in Historia’s head turning, as if she was struggling to find the right words to say. After what seemed like a decade she finally said nervously, “Well I’m going to quickly get myself all cleaned up. Are you ok staying here by yourself?”

“Of course.”

“Alright well…. See you in a few! And I’m sorry about the whole Reiner thing again!” With that, Historia scampered out of the common area leaving Mikasa alone in a sea of pink and sweets. 

It did not take long for people to start pouring in. At around 6:30 a bunch of Mikasa’s friends trickled in one by one. There were some people that Mikasa recognized and some she did not. She immediately picked out Zoe Hange from Historia’s book club. She looked just as eccentric as Historia had described her to be. Next came Sasha Blouse, Annie’s roommate. Mikasa felt a small grin form on her face as she watched her gravitate immediately towards the dessert table. Next came Nanaba, Mikasa’s roommate. When Historia had first mentioned inviting her, Mikasa had felt awkward about it. After all, she and Nanaba ran with completely different crowds. But after seeing the way she interacted with all of her other friends, Mikasa realized she had made the right decision. At around 7:00 Ymir Fritz arrived. When she entered the room it was as if the entire party stopped. Her booming voice was enough to outspeak everyone. 

Mikasa was talking with Sasha when suddenly a loud voice interrupted the conversation. 

“Hiiiiiiiistooooooriiiiiiiiaaaaaaa!” 

Mikasa turned around to see Historia standing in the door frame looking completely different from the disheveled girl she had worked with earlier. Historia had curled her hair so that it fell in soft ringlets around her face. She wore a skirt just long enough to cover her ass but short enough to show off her legs. Her plain white shirt was tucked into the skirt and covered by a light pink cardigan. 

“My angel,” Ymir quickly swooped over and gave her girlfriend a kiss on the lips. Which turned into much more than a simple greeting kiss.

“Jeez they need to just get a room,” Sasha joked and rolled her eyes. Mikasa felt herself laughing as well. 

“Was I ever like that?” Mikasa asked half jokingly. Sasha just shrugged. 

“With which one?”

“W-”

“Annie!” 

Mikasa swallowed before she could finish her sentence. She turned to see her girlfriend dressed in the complete opposite of Historia. She wore her typical hoodie and jeans, and had a somber look on her face. 

“You actually came!” Ymir said excitedly, wrapping her arms around her. “What changed your mind?”

Suddenly Mikasa felt someone staring daggers into her. She pretended not to notice. 

“This is so not my scene,” was all Annie muttered. 

“Alright guys!” Historia said suddenly standing up on one of the tables. “Now that we’re all here I just wanted to make the announcement that all of the Valentine’s Day snacks are on the table! Feel free to do whatever within reason of course, also, we’re planning on starting a movie at around 9:00 so let me know of any suggestions! Thanks for coming!”

The night continued with typical party behavior until 11 at night. By then, the majority of the guests had left until it was just Ymir, Historia, Annie, and Mikasa. 

Historia and Mikasa began to clear off the tables and the remains of the Valentine’s Day decorations from the tables while Annie and Ymir washed dishes. 

“Well that was successful guys!” Historia said as she brought the empty cookie plates over to the sink. 

“Agreed. And it’s all thanks to you.” Ymir leaned down to kiss Historia’s forehead. 

“Aw love!”

“Aw is right!” Annie rolled her eyes. “God, can you guys not be on each other 24/7? It’s annoying as hell.” 

Ymir splashed water on the smaller girl making her yelp. “You’re just jealous,” she taunted. “That I have such an adorable and loving girlfriend and you have-” she pushed her thumb towards Mikasa. “Whatever that brooding hunk is over there.”

“Shut the fuck-”

“Oh that’s right!” Historia clapped her hands, changing the subject quickly. “I was wanting to ask you this earlier Mikasa but what was your guys’ first Valentine’s Day like?”

Mikasa looked up from the table cloth she was shaking out. “I’m sorry what?”

“You know! Like, what did you guys do, what was it like?”

Ymir snickered. “Yeah what  _ was  _ it like? Spill all of it, I want  _ details.”  _

“If you’re hinting at anything sexual Ymir, don’t get your hopes up,” Annie interjected. 

Mikasa stopped and thought for a moment. “My first Valentine’s Day with Annie…. I remember thinking she had forgotten about it completely to be honest.” Ymir snorted. Annie glared back at her. “I remember waiting for a text from her all day,” Mikasa continued. “It was 5 PM and I was certain that Annie hadn’t thought of me at all but then… suddenly a large dozen roses arrived at my doorstep. And then she came over.”

“Aw Annie that’s so sweet!” Historia cried.

“And we all knew what happened after that.” Ymir said approvingly.

“Oh you two are just so cute,” Historia laughed, shaking her head. She then turned back to Ymir and gave her a sly smile. “So, love…. What sort of romantic plans do we have tonight?” 

Ymir dropped the dish she was washing and wrapped her arm around Historia’s waist. “Oh love,” she said seductively. “I’ve got it all. All. Kinds. Of. plans.” 

“Ooooh I can’t wait.”

“Ugh I can’t take it anymore.” Annie said in a disgusted tone. She set down the final plate in the drying rack and headed towards the door. “Come on Mikasa, let’s go.”

Mikasa took a look around the common area. The majority of the decorations had been taken down but a few streamers and balloons still crowded the room. 

“Annie,” she said. “We can’t leave yet, there’s still things to pick up-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Historia interrupted, setting down a pink table decoration. “I’ve rented this room until tomorrow at 3 PM. What doesn’t get picked up now doesn’t get picked up now. You guys don’t have to stay. In fact,” she turned and gave Ymir a quick kiss. “I think we’re going to head out right about now.”

Mikasa gave one last glance at the room. There was not much left to be done. A few more minutes the next morning would be more than enough time to finish picking everything up. 

“Ok,” she agreed finally. The four walked out of the room together before parting ways outside. 

“Thanks for coming again!” Historia waved. Mikasa waved back and watched as she and Ymir disappeared into the wintery night. She turned around to see Annie standing in the doorway with an unreadable expression on her face. Despite not living in the same dorm as Mikasa, Annie did not have her coat. She clearly did not have any intention of leaving either. 

“Annie,” Mikasa sighed. “I’m sorry but you can’t stay tonight.”

The blonde held up her hand. “Correction. Yes I can.” She walked back inside and Mikasa trailed behind her. “I asked Nanaba if she could stay with a friend tonight.”

Mikasa felt herself swallow.  _ Oh. _

They silently walked back together, until they were standing outside of Mikasa’s dorm. When she reached for the door handle Annie quickly put her hand over it to prevent them from going in. 

“Look, you know how I hate Valentine’s Day,” Annie said quietly. “But since this is our...first Valentine’s Day since our breakup. I wanted to get you something.”

She pushed the door open and Mikasa stepped in. When she turned on the lights she found a small bag sitting on her desk. Typical Annie, there was no card or anything, but Mikasa did not mind. She reached in and pulled out the first item her hand touched. It was a small pot of her favorite face mask from a Korean beauty store. 

“How did you get this?” Mikasa exclaimed as she examined the container. Annie just gave her a small smile. 

“I asked Nanaba to pick it up for me while she was away. I know how much you like that stuff.” Mikasa slowly lowered herself to her bed and let Annie join her. The next present inside was a small box of dark chocolate. Mikasa laughed. 

“Is this…. 100% dark chocolate?”

Annie let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes.” She flipped the bar over and pointed to the label. “I knew you’d refuse to eat it if it was anything other than that.”

Mikasa set down the bag and reached for Annie’s face, loving the way it fit perfectly in her hands. She gently placed her lips on top of hers. Unlike Historia and Ymir who frequently displayed their affection, neither Mikasa nor Annie were into explicit PDA. Perhaps this was what made this moment so special. 

“Thank you,” Mikasa whispered in her girlfriend’s ear. She swore she felt Annie tense. “For everything.”

Annie reached for the bag once more but this time, hid half of her face. “T-there’s one more thing….”

Confused, Mikasa reached in the bag when she felt something hidden beneath the loads of tissue paper. When her hand retracted from the bag she saw her girlfriend’s face flush. 

“Is this….a sex toy?” 

“Ok do you have to say it outloud?” Mikasa carefully examined the box. It appeared the contents inside was more than just the typical dildo. From the image it seemed that it was double sided. “I wasn’t just thinking about you, ok?” Annie continued. “I was just-”

“Annie.” Mikasa let her voice drop as she reached for her hand. “Is this an indirect way of asking me to fuc-”

Before she could finish her sentence she felt Annie’s lips crash against hers but this time, with more strength and urgency to it. Mikasa felt Annie’s arms wrap around her neck. 

_ Guess that is a yes. _

With a single swift motion all of the presents were swept off of the bed, leaving only Annie and the small toy on the bed. As Mikasa ran her hands through Annie’s hair, she felt a warm sensation fill every part of her. For once, everything was ok. This was ok.

_ For once, I am glad that Annie is so selfish.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> Thanks for reading, the next chapter will be back to the story. I had a lot of fun writing this haha (as you can probably tell) lol I can't decide if I want to write Annie as a top or bottom... I suppose we'll just have to wait and see....  
> On that premise, happy Valentine's Day! 
> 
> See you soon,
> 
> \- Solar02


	8. Bitter Bean Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia is ecstatic about her book meeting with Ymir. Mikasa and Annie look into Ymir Fritz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we finally get to see the lines being connected in this chapter ;)
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> \- Solar02

Mikasa was on her way to her first class of the day which was at eight in the morning. Much to Annie’s horror, Mikasa was more of a morning person than a night owl. She walked hurriedly past the Marley School of Science and found herself subconsciously looking for a short girl with a gray hoodie but of course, no one was there. Mikasa knew that it was foolish of her to think that Annie would take a morning class. In fact, Mikasa would have been shocked if Annie had signed up for any classes before 10 AM. She never understood why her ex loved staying up into the early hours of the morning and getting less than five hours of sleep a night. For Mikasa, anything under 7 hours made her feel like complete and utter shit. But Annie somehow managed to keep herself together and get all of her assignments in on time. To a certain extent. 

As Mikasa passed by the RU School of Business Management she reminicized about how she used to tutor Annie back when they were freshman. When they first met they were instant enemies, always competing for the top slots in the classes they shared. Mikasa was initially turned off by the blonde girl. For one she did not seem to care about anything but herself, and lacked enthusiasm in everything she did. Her deadpan expression and distant vibes pissed her off to no avail and was enough to make anyone annoyed. Perhaps what infuriated Mikasa the most was the fact that Annie never paid any attention in class but somehow was able to pass the midterms and exams with no problems. Mikasa on the other hand was the complete opposite. She was the kind of person who would show up to class early and stay late just to ask her professors questions. She was always the one to suggest study groups, and made sure to always be on top of things. 

One day however, they happened to bump into each other and Mikasa dared Annie to take a creative writing class as a joke. Little did she know Annie would take her seriously and actually follow through with the dare. Perhaps it was mean of her to put Annie in a situation like that; after all, she knew Annie hated anything related to liberal arts. Half a semester in she came to Mikasa’s dorm for the first time asking for help with the assignments and that was the beginning of their friendship. Although Mikasa had been reluctant to help out Annie at first she eventually gave in to her grudge and agreed. Soon their study sessions became more frequent until they met every day at the Rose Cafe and talked for hours. That was the first time Mikasa realized she was attracted to her. 

For one, Annie was a lot more interesting than Mikasa had given her credit for. Annie came from a small town outside of the city and lived with only her father who was a retired veteran. All of her life was spent dedicating herself towards excelling in academics and mastering the mechanics of muay thai. When Mikasa had first asked if she enjoyed either of those activities to her surprise, Annie claimed she had only done it to please her father. While Mikasa’s initial response was shock of course. She had grown up in a loving environment where her parents let her design her own fate which was why Annie’s background intrigued her so much. But still, something about Annie’s response that day resonated within Mikasa. It was selfish, yes, but it was also admirable. It was noble, self righteous. 

“Mikasaaaaaaaa!’ An overly cheerful voice came from behind shaking her from her thoughts. The brunette turned around to see Historia running at full speed waving her arms frantically to catch up to her. “Phew!” her girlfriend puffed. The pink flush on her cheeks matched perfectly with her rose colored coat and pastel shoes. “I’ve been calling your name for like three minutes straight! How did you not hear me?”

Mikasa blinked. “Oh I uh, have a lot on my mind I guess,” she said lamely. It wasn’t a lie. Her thoughts were completely occupied after all. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Historia leaned in for a quick peck on the cheek. “We’re going to the same building anyways so I thought it might be nice to walk with you!”

Mikasa just nodded. For some reason suddenly being bombarded by Historia so early in the morning zapped her of her energy. So much for being an early riser. Historia carefully rummaged in her bag and handed Mikasa a thermos. 

“Here,” she said. Mikasa immediately perked up. “It’s some Teavana oolong tea!”

And just like that her hopes were gone. Her disappointment must have been obvious because Historia let out a small laugh. 

“I know it isn’t espresso or black coffee or whatever gross bitter bean water you drink but I think you’ll really like this! Besides, coffee isn’t supposed to be that good for you anyways. Stunts your growth.”

Mikasa had to hold her breath to contain her snarky reply. Historia was under 5 feet. “That is not a proven fact,” Mikasa snapped and she instantly regretted it. Historia tried to conceal her emotions but hurt was clearly all over her face. The blonde girl was very bad at hiding things from Mikasa, who had learned plenty of detecting skills after being with Annie. Moreover, she knew she had overreacted. If anything, Historia was a lot more sensitive than her ex. “I’m sorry love. I’m just tired after last night.” 

Historia’s face immediately switched from hurt to inquisitive. “I thought you went home after you left my place?”

_ Crap.  _

“I did,” Mikasa said carefully. Her mind scrambled with figuring out the right words to say. It wasn’t like she could just tell Historia that she invited her ex over to watch a movie until 12 AM because she felt like it. “But I had trouble falling asleep.” Which was true. She kept rambling. “I was thinking about all of my papers that are due soon.” That was a lie. 

“Oh I see,” Historia nodded thoughtfully. She pursed her lips.

“What about you? How did your book club meeting go?”

“Ooh it was just lovely!” Historia clapped excitedly. “All of the new members came and we played games, quizzed each other on the current book we’re reading and even got to vote on which book we’ll be reading next month!” Mikasa gave Historia a small smile. 

“That sounds great,” she replied. “I’m happy you had such a good time.”

“That’s not all either,” Historia continued. “I met this wonderful woman - well I guess I don’t know her that well yet but - get this: she’s read the same book that I’ve been obsessed with for the past year!” 

Mikasa raised an eyebrow.  _ That  _ book? “Oh,” she said trying to sound interested. Of course she knew which one Historia was talking about. It was the ridiculously long forbidden love story that was so unrealistic and far fetched Mikasa could just cry. When they had first started dating Historia had introduced her to the book and went on about it for a good forty five minutes. After that Mikasa had promised she would pick it up; after all, Mikasa was in love with intellectual novels and what not. But this was very far from it. She had to put it down after the first ten out of four hundred chapters because it was so bad. Well, not bad. Just not her type. “That’s so cool! I can’t believe someone else loves it as much as you do.”

“I know right,” History said dreamily. “Finally someone I can fangirl with over it!”

“Wait this person is a girl?”   
“Of course silly, our book club is for women exclusively remember?” Historia walked in front of Mikasa and gave her a big smile. “Her name is Ymir Fritz! I’m going to meet her this Saturday to talk about the story with her!”

_ Ymir?  _ Mikasa wondered why that name sounded so familiar. She paused for a second trying to recall where she had heard that name when she remembered her conversation with Annie.  _ Ymir Fritz. Right.  _

“So she is a reader then huh,” Mikasa asked carefully. She had promised Annie that she would try and find more information on this mysterious person and here her girlfriend was, ready to talk her ear off. 

“I guess so. I mean, when I first saw her I was kind of skeptical, especially since she only stayed for our meeting for like, fifteen minutes. But she seemed pretty nice and look-” Historia reached in her bag to pull out a giant book. “She even let me borrow her copy!

This is a one-of-a-kind one too, it even has the author’s name signed on the front page. I have no idea how she even got her hands on this, it’s like, super rare.”

“Wow,” Mikasa commented. She didn’t like the sound of this person. They were openly giving her girlfriend gifts? Did they know that Historia was taken and had a girlfriend? Did they know who Mikasa even was? Did they- 

“Oh look we’re here. Well, I’ve got to go to my art history class now so we’ll have to say goodbye.” Historia stood on her tiptoes catching Mikasa by surprise, and gave her a kiss. At the same time the brunette felt something slip into her hand. “See you later!”

With that Historia bounded off without a second glance, leaving Mikasa standing in front of the Stohess School of Liberal Arts alone with a cup full of tea she did not even want. Once her girlfriend disappeared inside the doors of the Art School Mikasa made sure to dump it into the snow on her way to class. 

_ After the classes  _

  
  


When Mikasa got home she opened her email to a new message from her roommate, Nanaba, who had sent her a long message and a series of pictures. Mikasa secretly envied her roommate. Not only was Nanaba learning Korean but she was also able to get out of the gates of Rose University. It was not that Mikasa disliked the school- it was one of the top ranked in the area - but there were too many memories that were attached to the campus. Ones that she wished she could forget. After checking her email Mikasa immediately went to work, which tonight meant preparing for a presentation on geopolitics for the next class. As soon as she started time began to run away from her and soon it was already 11:45. Mikasa sighed and pushed her hair away from her face. She opened her phone and saw there were a few new messages that she had missed. The first one was from Historia. The second one was from pink princess. 

Mikasa felt her breath catch in her throat at the second name. She quickly dismissed it and clicked on Historia’s message.

Historia: Omg Mikasa I’m gonna cry 

Ymir cancelled our meeting on Saturday and won’t tell me why

I’m afraid she’s mad at me or something

Mikasa frowned.  _ Good  _ she thought selfishly. She couldn’t help it but the thought of Historia hanging out with some person she had met at a ‘mixer’ did not seem like a good thing for their relationship. Mikasa had learned the hard way that these things were fragile. 

Mikasa: Sorry to hear that love

Did you try to call her?

Almost immediately the typing symbol appeared on the bottom of her screen.

Historia: I did but she won’t answer

Ugh love, what did I do?

I was so excited too :(

Mikasa: Do you know what classes she takes? Maybe you could try and meet her sometime?

Historia: She showed me it but I don’t remember what it said

Ughhhh I was so looking forward to it too :( 

Not knowing how to respond Mikasa tapped out of their conversation and let her finger hover over the one from pretty princess.  _ Annie.  _ At last she couldn’t stand it anymore and hit open. There it was. A typical Annie text with a minimum use of words.

Pretty princess: we need to talk 

Mikasa: About

Pretty princess: Ymir and Historia 

I think she might have a thing for her

Mikasa: Excuse me??

Pretty princess: After I left last night I talked with my online friend

Turns out it’s Ymir Fritz

As in the one that goes to RoseU

Mikasa: Wait 

Then how does she know Historia?

Pretty princess: I told her

Mikasa: Annie :(

Pretty princess: What

She literally was gushing about ‘Krista Lens’ at some book meeting she had the other night

And would figure it out sooner than later

Mikasa groaned. Of course they met at the book club. And that was the girl that Historia was supposed to meet on Saturday who had so mysteriously backed out on her word. 

Pretty princess: u guys are safe though don’t worry 

Mikasa: What do you mean we’re safe?

Pretty princess: well it was pretty obvious she’s got the hots for Historia

So I told her you two were dating

Mikasa’s heartbeat picked up a bit, her fingers hovering over her keyboard. Annie did not have to do that. In fact, she could have just simply ignored Ymir’s gestures and let them continue yet it seemed that she was…. Looking out for them? For her?

Mikasa: well

Thank you Annie

Pretty princess: NP 

Mikasa: I really don’t like being the jealous type but when I heard Historia talk about some other woman I freaked out a bit

Thanks 

Pretty princess: ….. Right i get it

U just don’t want things to end with historia like how it ended with us

The brunette swallowed. Ah yes, here came the topic that she was so adamant about avoiding. She did not know how to respond to the text. Of course she did not want to catch Historia cheating! No one in the world would ever want something like that to happen to them. Mikasa thought back to that day. Annie’s lips on Reiner’s. The image of them kissing still haunted her in her sleep. When they first started dating Annie had made it very clear that she was lesbian, but had never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend before. Mikasa believed her of course, but secretly wished that Annie had experience with both before their meeting. After she saw them kissing Mikasa immediately came to the conclusion that it was because Annie had realized she was straight all along or that she was no longer satisfied with their relationship. To make matters worse, Mikasa knew the type of person Reiner was. The kind of hot, charismatic guy any girl would swoon over. Annie and Reiner had been childhood friends forever to make matters worse so of course there must have been times when they… crossed the friendship line. 

Mikasa supposed it was her fault for not giving Annie a chance to explain herself. At the time she had been so deeply hurt that she was unable to handle the truth, whatever that may be. After that, everything fell apart. Mikasa hated not being able to trust people, most of all the person who she should trust the most. And for that, Mikasa would never forgive Annie. Not in a million years. 

Pretty princess: u still there

Mikasa: yeah sorry 

Got a text from Historia

Her phone began to vibrate uncontrollably as if on cue, and Mikasa quickly muted it.

Pretty princess: well if there’s anything i can do lmk

I…. i want u two to work out

Now this was a surprise. 

Mikasa: I don’t know what to say 

Thank you Annie I really appreciate you saying that 

As Mikasa typed her message she felt a pang in her chest for some reason. 

Mikasa: I hope you’re happy too 

Pretty princess: eh i’m fine

I gotta go tho

Bye

The active symbol disappeared from Annie’s name before Mikasa could say anything else. For a while after she found herself re-reading their conversation over and over again, particularly stopping at the part where Annie said she wanted her new relationship to work out. For that Mikasa was truly grateful. So why did a tiny, insignificant part of her feel like dying when she read those words?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> Thanks for reading all the way down I hope you're enjoying the story so far :)  
> As always comments/feedback are more than welcome :)  
> The store should start to pick up from here on out ~
> 
> Thanks for reading and see you soon, 
> 
> \- Solar02


	9. A Small Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie contemplates her decision to tell Ymir about Historia and Mikasa's relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Just wanted to say I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy amidst this pandemic. I will be doing two chapter updates this month so stay tuned!  
> As always happy reading and see you at the end :)
> 
> \- Solar02

A week had passed since she first discovered that Ymir was actually the friend she had been talking to the entire time on AoT. And since that day, they had become really good friends. Before Reiner had gone completely absent from her life, Annie was always used to gaming with other people. She had fond memories of how the two of them used to get all worked up over the stupidest of things together. To her, Reiner was like the brother she never had, which made his distancing hurt all the more. When Reiner and Mikasa left only then did she realize how lonely she really had been. But now that Ymir had shown up that all changed of course. There were times when Annie would find herself questioning whether or not they were the same person. For one, they shared the same interests in gaming and had the same type of humor, the kind that, to anyone else might be somewhat offensive (Mikasa had hated this). Ymir was also a breath of fresh air and different from any friendship Annie had shared before. It was the kind where there was just an instant spark of attraction. This ‘spark’ developed so quickly it scared the ever living shit out of her.

There was just one problem though; Annie was pretty sure her new friend had a crush on Historia. A huge, massive, impossible crush.

_ Of all people Ymir you really had to go for Historia Reiss?  _ Annie though silently.

Historia was like the one person who was completely off limits. Part of Annie felt guilty for telling Ymir that Historia was already taken. She had never seen her so worked up about… well, anything since they had first met. Annie still did not know why she told Ymir that. Even if she had not intervened the truth would have come out by itself some way or another. After all, Historia and Mikasa made it painfully obvious that they were a couple. Too often in fact. It made Annie want to gouge her eyes out at times. But there was something else too. An even smaller part of Annie that still felt protective over her ex.Yet another thought that left her terrified. 

Suddenly her phone rang nearly causing her to fall off of her seat. 

_ What the?  _

Annie almost never got phone calls. The only person who was notorious for calling her was… nope. It was Ymir. 

“Hello?” She answered sharply.

“Hey. Whatcha doin?” Ymir’s voice came from the other side, oblivious to Annie’s tempered tone.

“I’m about to leave for my first class,” Annie replied. “Can we make it brief?”

“Oh sure. I was just calling to see if you’d be interested in helping me with a project for one of my classes?”

Secretly Annie didn’t want to. Too much effort. But somehow she heard herself reply, “Uh. Yeah sure I guess. What is it?”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. “Thanks man!” the excitement in Ymir’s voice was very present. “So basically I’m designing a video game and was wondering if you could help with the technological parts of it.”

Now this was interesting. Annie felt her curiosity take over her slowly. “Yeah,” Annie said, feeling a bit excited herself. “Yeah, I’m so down.”

“Sick! I’m currently working on designing the characters for the game. Wanna come over after class to discuss the details?

“Uh yeah,” Annie peered at her schedule. “My last class ends at seven. Can we meet then?

“Sure. Since you’re such a nice person I can bring over food. What do you want?”

Annie paused. “Tacos?

“Sounds good. See you soon Leonhart!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite being up playing video games since 3 AM Annie managed to drag herself out of her comfy bed and make her way to Ymir’s dorm room. On her way there she stopped in a bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked awful. Her hair was pulled back into an even messier than usual bun and her blue eyes were dull and lifeless. Annie almost laughed. She could practically hear Mikasa’s voice scolding her in her head.  _ Whatever _ , she thought.  _ Sleep is for the weak.  _

Despite all of this, she put on her best poker face and knocked on the door.

“It’s open,” Ymir’s muffled voice came from behind the door. Annie cautiously walked in and gaped at the mess that was Ymir’s room. 

If Mikasa saw this she’d have a heart attack.

Ymir had a loft bed with a desk and table below. Loose papers, pens, and other art supplies littered these desks, and the walls were covered with an array of drawings that made the original color nonexistent. “Surprised eh?” 

Annie walked towards the walk and ran her finger against the papers. Ymir’s art was... breathtaking. A lot of it was of people; some of them were more detailed than others. Ymir also did landscapes too, and Annie immediately recognized one of them to be the entrance of Rose University. 

“These are amazing Ymir,” she breathed. 

“Well they’d better be. I’m gonna be a graphic designer after all.” 

Annie continued to walk towards Ymir’s desk which, much like the walls, was covered with stuff. Ymir’s computer was open and a drawing tablet was connected. 

I shouldn’t snoop Annie thought, but her curiosity got the best of her. She peered over Ymir’s shoulder and saw a familiar face being created with great detail. It was a stunning portrait of Historia.  _ Ah shit _ , Annie thought silently.  _ She really fell hard. _

“Oh,” Ymir quickly exited the tab. “I didn’t see you there.” 

Annie swallowed. “Didn’t mean to creep up on you like that it’s just...these are so good. Are you sure you don’t want to go into art ed or something?”

Ymir let out a snort. “Heck no. I hate kids.” 

“Ok that makes two of us.” 

“Yeah.” Ymir paused and stood up. When she came back two waters and chips were in her hands. “Here. Complementary to helping me with my project.” 

Annie frowned. “My time is only worth a Dasani and bag of barbecue lays?” 

Ymir laughed again and this time there was something within Annie that wanted the moment to last longer.

“Well it was either this or offering to take you out. But you don’t seem like you’re  _ looking _ right now so this was the next best thing.” Ymir plopped back down in her seat.

Annie frowned. “What makes you think I’m not looking?” she replied somewhat defensively. In all truth she really hadn’t been. After being ghosted by Reiner and not trusted by Mikasa, Annie considered herself having her back turned on by the two most important people in her life. In other words, not looking to open her heart and have it slit again. She knew this secretly but had no idea that it was that obvious. 

Ymir just shrugged much to her confusion. “Don’t play dumb Annie,” she said simply. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“I think you do. Look,” Ymir stood up again, this time towering over Annie. Suddenly the blonde girl was aware of every inch of her friend, with her just standing inches away from her. Her tone was dead serious. “It’s clear there’s someone else you’re after.”

Annie swallowed. “Uh, not really. You’re wrong.” 

“Am I?” Ymir gave her a smirk and again, Annie felt the chills. “Well whatever. Can’t say I’m much different than you honestly.”

Annie’s eyes widened. Historia. Mikasa.  _ Shitshitshit. _

“Chill Leonhart. I’m resigned to the fact that Historia is taken,” Ymir continued, knowing exactly what was going on in Annie’s head. “Such a shame really. You know I cancelled my book date with her last week because I didn’t want to complicate things.” 

Annie’s eyes widened. Maybe Ymir was more sensitive than she originally thought. “I just hope that friend of yours knows how lucky she is,” Ymir continued. A cute girl like her is like a diamond in a pile of coal. Beautiful, kind and warm. You should take notes Annie.” 

_ Ymir can’t be serious right? Historia better than Mikasa? Think again. _

“They’re both lucky to have each other,” Annie mumbled. She supposed she was being partially truthful. Whenever she saw Mikasa and Historia together they always looked happy but then again, being around Historia for too long made Annie want to empty out all of the contents of her stomach. So there was that too. In her view Historia was damn lucky to have a woman like Mikasa. 

“So I’ve made the decision to just avoid her all together,” Ymir announced suddenly shaking her from her thoughts.

“Like…. For real?” 

Ymir nodded. “No more book club. No more looking for her in the common areas. I’m done.” 

Annie wished she could believe her but a part of her knew that Ymir was just saying all of that to make herself feel better. That there was still a tiny part of her that wished they could work out but she did not know why. 

“Whatever you say chief,” Annie replied lightly. 

“So,” Ymir said slowly with a hint of mischief in her voice. “Let’s say you are telling the truth and you don’t have someone in your life. And you’re like, you know, over your ex as you say you are.” She made sarcastic gestures with her hands for emphasis.

“Which I am,” the blonde replied defensively.

“Right,” Ymir chuckled. It was a typical Ymir laugh, but something about this one was different. She sounded almost hesitant to say the next sentence. “So since you’re like, completely on the market then.... what do you say to a date?” 

_ Oh, _

Annie was taken aback, completely not expecting that. “No pressure,” Ymir saved her. “It’d just be super casual like, if I took away the words date it could literally just be for us to meet and talk about the project.” 

Annie’s head began to spin as she desperately tried to conjure up a response. It was just a date. It didn’t have to mean anything. But at the same time it could mean everything. Deep down, she knew Ymir had hit a nerve when she mentioned her not being ‘available.’ The part of her that was hurt so badly by Mikasa and Reiner... that part was still broken. But what about the rest? Annie also knew that Ymir was fooling herself too; she still had feelings for Historia which could be a problem in the long run. Sure Annie disliked Historia to the bitter end but when it came down to it, she knew that Mikasa’s happiness was on the line as well. If anything ever happened between Ymir and Historia, Mikasa would probably end things with her the way she had with Annie. Which would just be bad for everyone involved. 

Ymir was looking at her now, waiting for a response. What was she doing? Here a chill, nice person was asking her out and she was hesitating but for what? It wasn’t like she was dating anyone so none of this mattered. This was her chance to start new. Annie bit her lip. Of course, if things did work out and they started dating, Mikasa and Historia’s fate would also be sealed. 

_ How many sacrifices will I be willing to make?  _

“Uh, yeah sure,” Annie heard herself. Her heart was beating rapidly but not in the in love, fluttery sort of way. It was more one that mimics that of anxiety.“You know what? I’d love to.”

A wide smile slowly spread across Ymir’s face slowly and Annie felt her anxieties slowly fade away. 

“Alright Leonhart looks like you’ve got yourself a date!” Ymir grabbed Annie’s hands in hers and smiled. “Trust me you won’t regret it.” 

Annie felt herself smiling back as she looked into Ymir’s eyes. Her friend brought completely different energy compared to Mikasa. She wasn’t reserved or quiet but rather the opposite. And they had so much more in common, and now, a giant project looming in front of them. 

This will also prevent Historia and Mikasa from having any complications. 

_ This is the best for all four of us. _

Annie was not sure if this was a good idea but goddamnit she was going to try. 


	10. The Right Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia receives an alarming message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys,
> 
> Sorry for not updating in a while. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter :)
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> 
> \- Solar02

Historia waited for Mikasa to pick her up after class that day. She was late. It was around 4 PM and the weather was absolutely atrocious. The chilly winter breeze swept the neat locks of her hair across her face despite the best efforts of her pink beret. Historia knew she was not dressed the most sensibly. Her fitted peacoat was a light pink with expensive satin bows on each of the wrists. She wore a short skirt below it with the only barrier protecting her from the cold being the shimmering stockings tucked into her pink boots. As she watched other RoseU students walk by she realized she looked like a lollipop in a graveyard. Everyone else around her wore dark heavy coats and gave her strange looks. 

_ No matter _ Historia brushed off her self-consciousness with ease.  _ They’re probably just jealous anyways.  _

After another five minutes went by however, Historia began to grow even more impatient. She tapped her foot on the ground and stared at her phone, praying Mikasa would answer her series of frantic texts. Out of her peripheral vision she saw a tall woman with brown hair and immediately looked up only to see Ymir. Suddenly Historia was no longer cold but burning with intense anger. 

Historia knew it was not very ladylike but had to satisfy her urge to call out to the rude woman. 

“So that’s it? You’re just gonna blow me off and now you’re ignoring me?” She heard herself say. 

The figure stopped walking and turned around. A pained expression crossed her face briefly before hardening again. 

“Last minute plans,” was all Ymir said. Historia noted how she was avoiding eye contact which only infuriated her more.

“You could have at least told me in person instead of cancelling at the last minute! Imagine my humiliation having to sit and wait for you all by myself at the Rose Cafe for thirty minutes!” Historia hadn’t meant to share that but she was on a roll now. She also couldn’t help but feel a strange satisfaction at the way Ymir’s jaw dropped in disbelief at the mention of thirty minutes. 

“I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered. “I didn’t mean to-“ 

“Here.” Historia reached into her pink bag and grabbed the book. She would later regret her action gravely but at that moment she was not thinking straight. Her fingers clasped around the bound leather of the book and she forcefully shoved Ymir’s book in front of her. “I don’t think I have a use for this anymore,” she said bitterly. 

The brunette’s face fell with hurt visible on it. “This is a limited edition signed copy,” she said slowly as if to try and change her mind. “I really want you to have it.”

“Yes well. You should have thought about that before you did what you did. Goodbye.” With that, Historia turned around and walked in the other direction without bothering to see the hurt expression on Ymir’s face. She wasn’t sure why but as she walked back to her dorm a small group of tears found their way on her cheeks. 

_ Stupid wind _ ! She thought angrily. She got home and slammed her purse down on her desk in anger. At this point she had completely given up on waiting for Mikasa and sent her a quick text saying she was back home. After she had taken time to cool off and finish her morning of the beautiful book, she went to her vanity and began taking off all of her makeup. After that she went and took a long hot shower, and threw on her favorite fuzzy pants and a sweater. She stared at herself in the mirror and grimaced. After all of her expensive clothing and accessories were taken off, she looked like a completely different person. 

Her phone buzzed suddenly and she reached to pick it up. Historia was already warmed up from her encounter with Ymir. She prepared herself to bombard Mikasa when she realized it was not who she expected. Much to her surprise it was not from Mikasa but rather her father. Her heart pounding in her chest, she opened it.

_ Dear Historia,  _

_ I am writing to you from the Marley District Medical Facility. Historia, I have waited to tell you this for months because I did not want it to disrupt your studies. The doctors found cancer, Historia. I only have about four months to live. I am telling you all of this via mail because I am not brave enough to tell you in person. I just want you to know how deeply sorry I am for keeping this from you so long, and that daddy loves you. _

_ With that being said, you are my one and only successor who must continue upholding the Reiss family name. Historia, I am granting you the means to become the new head and face of Reiss Holdings & Co. There is no one that I would trust in more than you. _

_ With that being said, this will require you to leave Rose University before the second term ends. I understand the position that this puts on you, and will not force you nor encourage you to do anything you are not comfortable with. I trust that you will make the right decision. _

_ Love,  _

_ Father.  _

Historia sat down and reread the message over and over again willing the first paragraph to disappear. He couldn’t have cancer. He couldn’t leave her, he couldn’t talk about death so loosely! And how could he not have told her until just then how could he....

She closed her eyes. The right decision. Leaving Rose University and travelling to Marley to continue the family business - that was what her father wanted her to do. She knew he would never admit it, not to her face. 

Her heartbeat quickened. Mikasa would surely understand. After all, Historia knew that family was important to her girlfriend. 

_ Besides this is the last family I have left.  _

Historia knew what she needed to do. Shakily, she reached for the phone and dialed her father. Tears were streaming down her face now uncontrollably as she thought of her father alone without his only daughter next to her. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Historia bunched her pink bed covers as she waited and waited for an answer. The minutes felt like decades until at last, an answer. 

“Hello?” came the weak but familiar voice from the other end of the line. Historia held her breath.

“Father,” Historia said, willing her voice to remain calm and hide any trace of her crying. “I received your letter. I want to let you know that I will be booking a trip to Marley as soon as possible to discuss the details about Reiss Holdings & Co. “ 

There was a long pause on the other end of the line followed by a throaty laugh.

“I knew you would make the right choice.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... a bit of a plot twist here.  
> Poor Historia :( 
> 
> Anyways, thanks so much for reading please feel free to leave comments/suggestions as it really helps with the writing process!
> 
> See you soon,
> 
> \- Solar02


	11. Reiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ymir meets Annie at Rose Cafe and discovers the Historia she met may be more special than she originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, 
> 
> Sorry for not updating in a while. This chapter is sort of a filler/very short, I'll make up for it by uploading another chapter very soon!  
> With that being said, happy reading :)
> 
> \- Solar02

It was 10 AM and Ymir was getting ready to meet Annie at the Rose Cafe. She had originally suggested dinner but Annie had countered with brunch. Ymir stared at her side of the dorm in all of its disorganized wonder. Everything was the same; sketchbooks, loose pens and pieces of paper crowded her desk. The one thing that stood alone however, was Historia’s book. Ymir supposed it was hers now that she completely pissed the blonde girl off. 

After that day Ymir decided to do something she never thought she’d do and actually start reading the book. As much as she hated to admit it, the story was extremely interesting after the first twelve chapters. Now all she wanted to do was continue reading, but of course, she couldn’t with her project due. Ymir carefully stroked the cover of the book. On the cover it had a beautifully portrayed image of a young girl looking off into the distance, longing for the dangerous woman she could never have. Ymir blew her bangs from her face. There was no use hoping for Historia to change her mind. Something told her that she was a very stubborn person. The best thing Ymir could do was to wait for Historia to make a move, which was a gamble of course. Ymir had blown her off and then stopped talking to her. It was stupid to think some book would have been the bonding piece between them anyways. 

Suddenly her phone buzzed making her jump. Annie’s number appeared on her screen. 

Oh right. I forgot to add her as a contact oops. 

Annie: hey I’m omw now 

Ymir: me too I’m gonna be like 4 min late though 

Annie: dw about it is there anything I should bring 

Ymir stared at the last message in confusion before she remembered the project. Of course Annie wanted to get down to business. 

Ymir: uh maybe like a notebook or something to jot down stuff? I’ll bring laptop 

Annie: sounds good see u in a few

Maybe she would have a little fun. Just once. 

Ymir: ok babe ;) 

She waited for almost a full minute before finally Annie started typing again.

Annie: don’t call me babe. we are so not there yet

Ymir: YET?!!

Annie: good bye 

Ymir let out a small chuckle and went back to gathering her things when she remembered a very important detail about Historia. The last name.... Reiss was it? Ymir wracked her brain as she tried to remember where she had heard that name before. Reiss.... Reiss Holdings and Co. 

_ Oh shit she’s not that sort of Reiss is she?  _

The Reiss family was famous for owning one of the world’s largest plastic companies. If Historia was a Reiss that meant she was rolling in dough. __

_ But then why come to a school like Rose U? Shouldn’t she be somewhere more luxurious, like in France or something,  _ Ymir thought. Looks like she had yet another question about Historia. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well well.... Ymir slowly realizes Historia is actually the daughter of a millionaire. Also I know AnniexYmir isn't the main ship here but I'm honestly loving writing them..... 
> 
> Anyways as I said earlier this chapter was extremely short- I'll be updating with a new chapter hopefully soon so please look forward to it!
> 
> See you soon,  
> \- Solar02


End file.
